A married mum fell for a pole dancer in a virtual world game – then wed the man behind the character in real life.
Briton Kelly Sexton and American bachelor Nick Von Asten found themselves falling in love after their characters hooked up in the online game Second Life.
Just days after their first chat, Kelly, 41, had told her husband of nine years she wanted a divorce.
Within six weeks Kelly and Nick’s online characters had wed – and went on to have a baby.
Three years later, she and Nick, 30, from Wisconsin, turned fantasy into reality by getting hitched themselves.
Mum-of-four Kelly, of Aylesham, Kent, told the Sunday Mirror: “It feels like a fairytale – to meet someone 4,000 miles away and have that strong connection.
“When I first saw him I felt like my soul had found its mate – my missing piece. It’s a perfect story with a perfect ending.
“I didn’t think he could fall in love with me. I’m 10 years older, not exactly slim and I have a disability – it’s a lot for most people to take.
“But he loved me the moment we met. I got lucky.”
Kelly has fibromyalgia, ME and non-epileptic attack disorder (NEAD). She is in constant pain, unable to work and turned to Second Life to help escape real-life woes.
Her character Selena met Nick’s alter ego Staticmuse on New Year’s Eve 2016.
Kelly said: “Selena is what I would ideally look like – curvy, tall. She was working in a rock nightclub and this character called Staticmuse walked in.
“He wasn’t wearing much – boxer shorts, angel wings and sunglasses.
“Then he started pole dancing in front of me and it was so funny. I just thought ‘wow, he looks interesting’. I started flirting with him.
“He said ‘What about a date?’ We went off to the amusement park in the game for hours. It really did feel like a first date.”
Kelly, who was being cared for by her husband at the time, went on: “I was in pain, my marriage wasn’t working out and I was just hiding away on the game. I said to Nick ‘I’m happily married and not interested in anything funny’, but we can be boyfriend and girlfriend on the game’.
"Over a couple of days I started opening up. I confessed I wasn’t in love with my husband and I hadn’t been for years. Then I realised I was living this life I was feeling trapped in, which is why I was always on the game.
“We talked for 20 hours non-stop. It was just this massive connection. I was wary, but I fell in love with his voice and how easy he was to talk to.”
Days later Kelly told her husband she didn’t want to be with him any more, that she didn’t love him and was unhappy. She said: “He admitted he hadn’t loved me for years either. It was a very mutual thing. His reaction was a relief.
“In time, I did tell him about Nick and he had no qualms about it. He’s met Nick many times and they get on well.”
Within 10 days of meeting online, Kelly and Nick declared their love – before even knowing what the other looked like.
Kelly said: “I started to panic that maybe I was being catfished, after all I was a 37-year-old disabled mother – hardly a catch.
“But he sent me a picture and I was blown away, he was absolutely gorgeous. I made him video call and as soon as his face came up on the screen, no one had ever looked at me like that – it was just love.”
Their characters wed on February 25, 2017 – with virtual family and friends as guests. Kelly explained: “We had five bridesmaids and five groomsmen from all over the world – our friends on the game. It was a proper ceremony with vows we wrote ourselves.
“It was at a little chapel that Nick made piece by piece. It took him hours. It was 10am UK time, then we had a DJ at the night-time party.
“We didn’t think we could have a real relationship together because of distance and me being 10 years older.
“We talked for a year. Then on Boxing Day 2017, I flew out to America to spend a week with him. Waiting at arrivals, my heart was pounding.
“I was in such a panic. Then I heard ‘Hey, sweetie’. It sounds so cheesy but it’s like we found our missing piece. Everything connected. Once we’d spent that week together we knew we wanted to make a go of it.”
Nick visited Kelly in March 2018 and Kelly’s kids – who had seen him on video and spoken to him – loved him.
A month later, he proposed on Dover Beach and Kelly’s engagement ring matched the one on Second Life – a heart diamond with sapphire and diamond stones.
They eventually had a “perfect” wedding in snowy Wisconsin on December 30, 2019. Kelly’s youngest kids Tel, 10, and Serenity, four, were there.
They flew to Britain and once coronavirus restrictions are lifted Nick will return to the US to await a spousal visa. For now, they are not playing Second Life but plan to “call in” on the virtual world again at some point.
Kelly’s character had a baby, but she admitted: “Once we met in person the game seemed less important.
“In game we had a house and we did the whole pregnancy thing. You bought a kit for both characters and made a baby. You can go deep in the role play – scans and hospital appointments. But we didn’t go that far.”
Nick said: “I fell in love with Kelly’s personality, warmth of her voice and the idea of her very, very quickly.
“There was such a connection, that is hard to explain. My family had met people I’d dated before, but none of them were ever as well received as Kelly.
“My dad calls her more often than he calls me nowadays!”
